Employer offers only 22 hours pay for a 32-hour shift — job applicant walks out of interview immediately
'They want a night-shift without paying for a night-shift.'
The current job market is forcing many to continue their dead-end jobs, fearing the financial misery that comes with an uncertain future. In fact, they work like robots, chasing paychecks that aren't even enough for basic survival. While most surrender to the toxic work culture, a person working in the healthcare industry walked out mid-interview after the employer offered only 22 hours' pay for a 32-hour shift. The (now-deleted) story was shared on the r/antiwork subreddit.
The candidate, a CPR-certified individual, had worked at a group home for at-risk youth for over 5 years and wanted to continue in the same industry. They moved from Florida to Vermont and applied for a job at another group home. It was a minimum wage job, paying $10 per hour. They assumed getting a job would be relatively easy for them, considering their prior experience, but the reality hit them like a tornado. They were shocked after realizing they had been called for a group interview with other people competing for the same position. "Huge red flag right there," they wrote, recalling the incident. The interview progressed, and the employer dropped yet another bomb. "Apparently every week you'd work Wednesday 2 PM to 10 PM and Thursday 2 PM to 10 PM, but then Friday we are to work 2 PM to 10 PM, then CLOCK OUT but remain on site and sleep there, then clock in at 8 AM Saturday morning and work almost a double shift and leave at 10 PM," the author explained.
The candidate also realized that they wouldn't be fairly compensated if they had to wake up and tend to an emergency case at night. They wrote, "I said right there that I'm not staying there for 32 hours in a row, especially if you're only paying me for 22 of those hours, which is illegal." The candidate walked out of the interview, feeling cheated by the employer. Three other applicants followed them, but the majority of the interviewees stayed. Just like the majority of interviewees, most working professionals are trapped in dead-end jobs.
In a survey by the American Psychological Association (APA), 19% of employees confessed to being in a toxic workplace, with the number being higher for those in people-facing jobs. Moreover, they found that almost 60% who reported an unhealthy workplace said they plan to look for a new job in the coming year, which means 40% may stay despite the toxicity. Reacting to the post, u/dipping_gravy commented, "Damn, I did this same type of thing for group homes for disabled adults in Kansas. We had to clock out at night and were required to sleep there; I guess I was just young and happy to be employed. I didn’t have a girlfriend or wife at the time, and now that I think about it, yeah, that was f***** up that I was required to be there but not paid."
Another user, u/lightbulb704, shared, "I worked for a private ambulance company as a medic back in the 80s. The shift was 24 hours from 8 AM to 8 AM. You got paid from 8 AM to 10 PM and from 7 AM to 8 AM. The 10 PM-7 AM hours were called 'night call,' which was unpaid unless they called you; they used some bullshit DOT trucking rules to justify it by classifying us as commercial carriers or some nonsense." Similarly, supporting the author, u/methodwhiskey, said, "I would have walked out, too. The people who stayed were probably desperate and had nowhere else to go or fell into the mindset of this just being how things are. Fortunately for you, you were from another state and were more educated on the matter at hand. I've got a lot of rent-free 'what was all that about' living in my head as the years go by. Haha!"
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